Bristol Bears beat Northampton Saints 62-8 on Friday night in what was the Bears' biggest ever win in the Gallagher Premiership.
Four first half tries from Harry Randall (two tries), Harry Thacker and Ioan Lloyd saw the hosts go into the changing rooms 27-3 up and the tries didn’t stop after the break as the Bears scored another five tries to round off a stunning performance. Tries from Lloyd, Chris Vui, George Kloska, Fitz Harding and Jake Heenan after the interval left the Saints looking helpless and very glum at the final whistle.
Rugby writers John Evely and Harry Royle take a closer look at the individual performances of the Bristol Bears players:
15. Charles Piutau - 10
A very well-deserved man of the match performance despite only being on the park for 53 minutes. By the time he was withdrawn Northampton's spirits were well and truly broken having spent most of the time the former All Black was on the pinch unable to come up with any answers to the Bristol full back's mesmeric play.
Piutau produced the assist of the season for Harry Randall’s second try of the game a spin out of three attempted tacklers and then step another two to then put in a perfectly weighted grubber for his scrum-half to gather and score.
It was sensational, world-class rugby from one of the modern day club greats.
The Tongan then allowed Ioan Lloyd to canter into the corner after drawing in two defenders and offloading the ball.
14. Siva Naulago - 7
The Fijian produced a great tackle on Fraser Dingwall to put Saints attack on the back foot early on which allowed for Magnus Bradbury to get a turnover to weather the early storm.
Shortly after he scored a try of the season contender however it got disallowed for a forward pass from Harry Thacker in the build-up.
Naulago's game was cut short as he hobbled off the pitch with 15 minutes left of the first half after taking a blow to his knee.
13. Semi Radradra - 8
Not man of the Match this week but he still produced one hell of a performance, his ability to effortlessly draw defenders in and then get his arms free for an offload is almost undefendable at times with six successful offloads on the night including one to create the room for Ioan Lloyd's first try.
It’s so good to see the flying Fijian in form before he jets off to France at the end of the season.
12. James Williams - 8
A really solid performance from the former Hartpury man as he attacked and defended to near perfection. Showed his versatility as he moved to 10 when AJ MacGinty was subbed off and was perfect off the tee as well when he took over kicking duties from MacGinty.
Williams has really made the 12 shirt is own in the last couple of months.
11. Gabriel Ibitoye - 7
More active than last week but still seemed to struggle to open his legs as he was given the ball in less promising positions than the right winger, however he was lively every time he was on the ball.
Saints seemed to have him covered in defence all night with them neutralising the dangerous winger, although his fast feet and power still allowed him to beat three defenders.
10. AJ MacGinty - 8
Worked in tandem with Randall in making the Bristol attack flow seamlessly throughout his 60 minute stint.
There was nothing flashy about the performance of the USA international, who didn't make repeated breaks running with the ball as he has in recent weeks, nor were there cross-field kicks flying around. It was just clinical, well judged play which brought the best out of the runners around him.
He wasn’t 100 percent off the tee, finishing with 11 points from four conversions and penalty kick, but it didn’t really matter to much due to the nature of the game.
9. Harry Randall - 10
The new Bristol captain is metaphorically banging down England head coach Steve Borthwick's door with performances like this as he was the catalyst for the Bears' attacking success all night in their best performance for two years.
A great dummy at the base of the ruck to fool Sam Matavesi for his first try was top glass and then he ran a perfect outside support line for Piutau before showing great composure to gather the kick and fend off the attempted cover tackle. Post match Piutau spoke about how Randall was telling him all the time where he was in support which was the difference between success in failure in scoring one of the tries of the season.
Kept an incredible pace in attack as demonstrated with the quick thinking to tap a penalty and catch Saints sleeping before hitting Jake Heenan to crash over and he never stopped working in defence.
Only real hiccup was he got stepped by Tom Collins in the build-up to the George Hendy try.
1. Yann Thomas - 8
Gave Saints scrum plenty of problems with one of his scrums getting a penalty for his troubles and it allowed for the Bears to build through phase play before the Harry Thacker score.
Even more impressive were the lovely lines and dents he made carrying.
2. Harry Thacker - 9
The hooker was absolutely everywhere on the the pitch as he played the role as the key link man in multiple attacking moves while getting on the scoreboard himself.
A skilful winding run in the build-up to Siva Naulago’s disallowed try had everyone in the stadium on their feet as the Bears went from deep in their own half, if his offload wasn’t forward it would’ve been a try of the season contender. In truth Thacker probably should have given the pass to his speedy winger a little quicker.
But he made up for the forward pass by scoring Bristol’s second try a few minutes later with a powerful blast from close range. That’s his 13th try this season across all competitions.
3. Max Lahiff- 8
The tighthead's game has hit new levels in recent weeks.
He put a good shot in early on in defence when the game was finely balanced and scrummaged well throughout.
But he also showed he’s more than a ball of finely tuned muscle as expressed some great dexterity to offload the ball to Thacker to continue a flowing Bears attack as they worked wide for Lloyd’s second try.
4. Joe Batley - 9
Back from an ankle injury and in the thick of the action both sides of the ball for the Bears.
The lock kick-started the attack for Lloyd’s second try by keeping the ball alive and offloading to Randall as he caught the no look passing bug with some stunning touches.
Made 18 tackles all game and was industrious throughout. Like the rest of his teammates he was near perfect.
5. Chris Vui- 9
A fair few very nonchalant, defence splitting touch throughout the game with his most pivotal one being his offload, which was the sixth team one in a row,to release Lloyd down the wing early in the second half to finish off a great team try and shutdown any thoughts Saints had of launching a comeback.
Got himself on the scoresheet with a sneaky pick and go through the middle of the ruck to run it in from 20 metres out as he spotted the ruck unguarded.
6. Sam Jeffries - 6
Survived his first game back last week but went off just before half-time after suffering a stinger blow to the shoulder. Hopefully it’s not too serious and he can get a decent run games under his belt.
7. Fitz Harding - 9
Pat Lam labelled his flanker as 'world-class' speaking post match and he was absolutely instrumental in both attack and defence on Friday night.
Credited with 22 tackles just in the first-half of the game as he repeatedly put in dominant hits to stop Saints advancing during several phases where the visitors were camped in the Bristol 22. Riding out that storm then allowed the Bears to explode into life with the ball later in the contest.
Rounded off an exceptional performance with a try after an industrious line-break from Sam Bedlow. Could’ve easily been given man of the match.
8. Magnus Bradbury - 9
Produced three massive turnovers on his own line in the first half to stop the Saints attack dead in it’s tracks.
The Scottish international produced a weaving line-break off kick off in the build-up to Naulago’s disallowed try also showed us his attacking prowess.
Another player who could’ve easily been given man of the match as he set the tone for the high intensity needed.
Replacements
16. Bryan Bryne - 8
17. Jake Woolmore - 7
18. George Kloska - 8
19. Stephen Luatua - 8
20. Jake Heenan - 8
21. Andy Uren - 7
22. Sam Bedlow - 8
23. Ioan Lloyd - 9
